The Class of 65: Vin Scully to return for 65th year with Dodgers in 2014

… The Dodgers are expected to announce Friday that Scully, the finest broadcaster in baseball history, will return for a record 65th season in 2014.

Scully is 85. The Dodgers never would kick him out of the broadcast booth, but he respects his audience too much to mumble around a microphone the way Willie Mays stumbled around center field for the New York Mets, in a sad close to a brilliant career.

So Scully takes it year to year. This year, he has been invigorated by the best reality show in town, the richest-to-worst-to-first Dodgers. Next year? Sign him up.

“It has been such an exciting, enjoyable, wonderful season — the big crowds in the ballpark, everybody is talking about the ballclub, and I really respect, admire and love the management — so everything just fell into place,” Scully said.

“Just the thought of walking away from it to retirement — and looking out the window or something? It’s just too good. As a baseball man, and someone who has always loved the game, the situation and the conditions are perfect.” …

Update: The Dodgers have made it official.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, an icon in American sports history, will return to the Dodger broadcast booth for an unprecedented 65th season in 2014, it was announced. Scully will again call all Dodger home games and road games in California and Arizona.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of this season and there is no way I could leave this truly remarkable team and our great fans,” Scully said. “With my wife Sandi’s blessing, I’ve decided I’d like to come back and do it again next season. I love what the new ownership has brought to the team, and the energy provided by the fans, who have packed renovated Dodger Stadium. It reminds me that other than being home with my family, there is no place else I’d rather be.”

Widely regarded as the finest sportscaster of all time, Scully’s 64 years of service mark the longest tenure in his field. He will call all nine innings of the team’s television broadcasts on Time Warner SportsNet LA beginning in 2014, with the first three innings of each of his games also simulcast on AM 570 Fox Sports LA.

“The Dodgers are overjoyed to have Vin back with the team in 2014,” said Dodger Chairman and Owner Mark Walter. “Vin IS Dodger baseball. The Dodgers, the sport of baseball and the city of Los Angeles are extremely fortunate to have him in our midst.”;

“We’re so grateful that Vin wants to continue to call Dodger games,” said Dodger owner Earvin Johnson, “Being able to listen to Vin helps make every Dodger game something special.”

“Vin brings a unique perspective to Dodger baseball,” said Dodger President and CEO Stan Kasten. “Everyone in the Dodger family and within the sound of his voice benefits each and every time we are afforded the opportunity to hear him call a Dodger game. We are thrilled to know that experience will continue through at least the 2014 season.” …

Great news. I also can’t help but think that the dodgers mediocrity over the last 25 years has actually made Vin even more beloved here in socal. There’s been no great teams or players for the fans to get excited over, so Vin has been seen as pretty much the only great thing about this franchise. He’s also seen as a link to the time when the Dodgers were great.

http://web.me.com/kakitadoug/geekblog/Blog/Blog.html DougS

I agree; I think you’re spot on about that. There is something both comforting and exhilarating in how he can bring alive the great Dodger teams that are not quite part of my living memory, from the ’55 Brooklyn team to the Koufax era. For younger fans, that must extend through the Lasorda years, to the ’88 Championship year.

skybluestoday

“comforting” and “exhilarating,” indeed. Nice choice of adjectives.

leekfink

Yes and no. Even in 1976, he was voted the most memorable personality in the history of the franchise. But, as the one constant in the Dodger universe–with four different owners, eight different managers, and a lot of mediocre players (and a few great ones too), his stature can’t help but to have risen.

John_from_Aus

Fantastic news!

http://web.me.com/kakitadoug/geekblog/Blog/Blog.html DougS

Every year when this announcement is made, I keep thinking of something he used to say a lot: “You can only play so much golf.” Now, it seems like he keeps talking about how it’s too much fun for him to give up, which is an even more positive sort of spin on why he keeps working. Let us all hope for his continued good health and high spirits.

skybluestoday

This is Just Simply Wonderful News.

SaMoDodger

Now if only the Dodgers can find less breathless replacements for Collins and Steiner, and someone a little less martinet-esque than Sgt. Monday.

John G. Blanchard

Yes–not sure if you’re saying that, but I think Lyons is the only one worth keeping other than Vinny. I thought Kevin Kennedy with Steiner/Monday (they both missed time recently) sounded much better. I cannot believe that the wacky-time comedy hour (Monday/Steiner) continues to go on for this long.

But, quibbles! Vinny is back and we’ll get the first 2 innings on radio!

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

Vinny does the first 3 inning in simulcast…wish it was the whole game

btimmer

A simulcast is really hard work. There have been a few times when Vin has had voice problems, they just have him do TV.

I am also of the age when the Dodgers just had two announcers and when late in the game one of them had to go downstairs for a postgame interview, Vin (who usually stayed behind) would say that there was now a simulcast.

Chick Hearn did a simulcast of Lakers broadcasts for years, but he had to give it up toward the end of his career.

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

Yea I remember those days. And because I do I remember Vin in his prime and I don’t want to sound blasphemous but of course with age his “skills/memory” have deteriorated and I was actually thinking he might not renew for next season.
I know he reviews his performances and I was afraid he wouldn’t think his current ability wasn’t up to his standards. He is tough on himself.
I’m glad he did decide to go another year because even a “diminishing” Vinny is better then everything out there in the broadcast world

SaMoDodger

Yes, to me Lyons is bearable. the other guys are unlistenable. I’m in Chicago at the moment, with the misfortune of having to listen to Hawk Harrelson. As long as nothing interesting happens during the game, he’s professional. But the minute the Sox do something positive, he emotes like a dinner theater production of Guys and Dolls.

Bob_Hendley

Lyons paired correctly would be bearable?

WBBsAs

It would be hard for anybody to offset Lyons’s brand of inanity.

ASW1

I still miss Big D.

btimmer

Who would else be around to give approval to Dodger brawls with Arizona and San Diego?

RBI

Oh, this makes me so happy.

foul tip

Great news. Wish folks in my part of the country could hear him, at least occasionally.

Do you have MLB Audio? Since he does the first 3 innings on TV AND radio, you can listen to those games and pick him up anywhere with this subscription . . . it’s only $20 and you can get any game you want throughout the season.

BTW — this is NOT a paid advertisement . . . there were stretches when the games weren’t carried here in Vegas and even now they don’t carry every game or necessarily every inning of the games they DO carry . . . so MLB Audio is a great backup, even tho it oftentimes lags behind real time . . . but I get glimpses of the future here on DT!

What a great start to the day! I’ve hoped that the silverest of Silver Linings to this season would be exactly this . . . Viva Vinny!

michaelgreenlasvegas

Years back, The Vin said he liked to go to the hardware store and was referred to as Clouseau for his habit of destroying things around the house. I have the feeling that Sandy Scully thinks this is the best way to make sure their house keeps standing. But all along I’ve thought, he will leave voluntarily only if his health keeps him from doing the job mentally or physically, and he would be more likely to quit the road before he quits entirely. Either way, great news.

I do wonder whether the team’s improvement influenced him. On the one hand, he loves the game and doesn’t seem to mind either way. On the other hand, he made a lot more negative comments about the road and about his desire to try other things in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the Dodgers went eight years between post-season appearances. It can be a little wearing, I’m sure.

http://web.me.com/kakitadoug/geekblog/Blog/Blog.html DougS

I suspect you’re right, that barring some deterioration in his health, the next step would be to stop doing all road games rather than retire all together. It always astounded me that Chick Hearn kept up a full travel schedule into his late ’80s, all the way to the end of his career.

ASW1

Chick Hearn was a marvel to be sure – Laker games have not been and will never be as enjoyable to me since his passing. In fact, after the Magic/ Kareem/ Worthy team days ended, Chick was really the only thing that kept me being a true Lakers “Fan”. They have faded farther and farther down on my list as the years go by.

dalegribel

Since Chick passed, I don’t think I’ve listened to or watched a Laker broadcast. In truth, without Chick, I really had no interest in the NBA and became more of a college basketball fan.

michaelgreenlasvegas

I always thought the Lakers weren’t really fair to Paul Sunderland–who COULD succeed Chick? Back when the Tigers fired Ernie Harwell, he urged Pat Hughes, then with the Brewers and now on Cubs radio, to go for it and Hughes said it was like in LA: he wouldn’t take the Dodger job without a guarantee of a front-page photo of himself in the LA Times with Vin standing with his arm around him. Well, Chick couldn’t be there for that. Will Vin? Who knows?

I do know this much. First, Vin isn’t what he was, but he’s still better than anybody else I hear today. He makes a few more mistakes, but I also think that’s partly because he’s simulcasting and then working from the monitor to the field (he won’t watch a play on the monitor, and with more telecasts, we can catch more boo-boos). Second, I never cease to be amazed at how McCourt and his wingman Rosen, as cheap as they were, fired Ross Porter and it basically has taken THREE people to replace him, and none of them is in his league.

http://web.me.com/kakitadoug/geekblog/Blog/Blog.html DougS

Yeah, I thought Sunderland was pretty decent. I was quite surprised when he was cut loose. And now we have Bill MacDonald, who has never struck me as a natural play-by-play man. I loved his old Sports Roundtable show, but that was his sweet spot, not play-by-play.

TAFKA_Gagne55

The Dodgers’ lead is now equal to the largest deficit they’ve had this year.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

For the longest time, I meant to mention that when it happened – then I forgot to do so when it did. But the Times picked up on it today.

ASW1

Bob mentioned it right after the win was secured a couple threads ago :

“The pond has turned . . . Dodgers once trailed by 9 1/2, now lead by 9 1/2!”

Bob_in_Vegas

Thanks for the memory . . .

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

It was running wildly on twitter and at MSTI yesterday night

dalegribel

I think I posted during the off season that my fear of the Dodgers winning the World Series would be that Vin would retire on top. Since I’m sure he’s a man of his word, glad to know he’ll be back to watch them defend. Wish I could give this whole column an up vote.

Bob_in_Vegas

That scenario would be the cloud to the silver lining.

http://web.me.com/kakitadoug/geekblog/Blog/Blog.html DougS

Something like that was in the back of my mind when the Kings won the Stanley Cup last year: That Bob Miller, having half-joked that his nightmare was that the Kings wouldn’t win their first Cup until after he retired, might decide that it wouldn’t get any better than this and call it a career while his longtime team was on top. Like Vin, though, he still seems to having fun, and last season he seemed to savor working for the defending Champions. Don’t know how Bob feels about golf, though.

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

Here is the FOX coverage map for Saturday. Blue is detroit at mets, Green is A’s O’s. Red is Your Los Angeles Dodgers

Trying hard to not overuse AJ I see. I guess now is a good time to keep him fresh at such a demanding position.

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

Los Angeles Dodgers ‏@Dodgers1m
Vin Scully described the ovation from the fans on his bobblehead night this season as the closest he has come to crying in the booth.

Bob_in_Vegas

I was there! Zack lost and I’m probably going to give away my bobblehead, but I wanted to be there for the tribute to Vin. I didn’t know about the video until it was on, but I got a photo of Vin from the screen when the camera went to him in the booth. . . Now I want to go to a World Series game — hopefully THAT can be done this year as well! (Who’da thunk such thoughts back when my waffle was reaching .500?)

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

are you planning on selling it?

Bob_in_Vegas

No. My “2nd family” had three kids with muscular dystrophy — I met them when I went to an MDA summer camp and they changed my life. They have all passed on and the mother has had to endure more than Job. I introduced them to Dodger baseball and we all shared in ’81 and ’88. Sue still watches and is a HUGE fan. If she wants the bobblehead, it’s hers. If she doesn’t, it’s mine.

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

I bought one off line for myself but was thinking about getting one for my dad…no worries

Los Angeles Dodgers ‏@Dodgers7m
“My career is one of talking about the accomplishments of others. I haven’t accomplished anything.” -Vin Scully

Bob_in_Vegas

. . . except giving us all such great memories, a better understanding of baseball, a sense of decency, an appreciation of past Dodgers (and all players), the ability to appreciate a good play — even if it’s made against the Dodgers, a reason to tune in when there was no other reason to tune in, etc, etc. . . .

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

in reply to the above posted tweet by the Dodgers:
el serracho ‏@elserracho19m
@Dodgers He is rarely wrong, this is one of those times.

Bob_in_Vegas

Amen!

https://www.facebook.com/kmt59 KT

Vin Scully ‏@VinScullyTweet6m
I’ll be frustrated to the day I go to my grave that Gil Hodges isn’t in the Hall of Fame #VinScully #PressConf pic.twitter.com/uJVYVuyRu6

btimmer

LA Observed runs a post about Linda Rondstadt discussing the end of her singing career because of Parkinson’s Disease. At the bottom of the post, there is a video of her singing the National Anthem before Game 3 of the 1977 World Series.

At the end, they cut away to show Frank Sinatra in the stands (and judging from the angle, he’s sitting above the Yankees dugout, but I could be wrong.)

I went to that game! One of three World Series games I’ve been to. The Dodgers are 1-2 in World Series games I’ve been to.

They are 4-0 in Division Series games (if you count 1981: Astros, Cubs, and 2 wins over the Cardinals )
They are 1-3 in NLCS games (2 losses to the Phillies, one loss to the Expos, one win over the Phillies)
They are 1-2 in WS games (all against the Yankees)

http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/ Linkmeister

I wouldn’t have expected to learn why one of my favorite singers of the last forty years retired on Dodger Thoughts.

Bob_Hendley

I think I speak for the rest of us in saying that you are not allowed to attend NLCS and WS games involving the Dodgers.